Skipper James Morris is confident Berkshire will bounce back from their poor showing in the Unicorns Trophy.

The holders lost three of their four group games, the last of them coming at Kidmore End last Sunday when they crashed to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Herefordshire.

“We are all disappointed that our defence of the trophy has ended, but we have got next Sunday off and that will give us time to regroup and get ourselves fully prepared for our opening three-day championship game against Cornwall at Henley.”

Berkshire had gone into the Herefordshire match still in with a slight mathematical chance of snatching the Group 4 runners-up place from their visitors, with Cheshire awaiting the winners in the quarter-finals.

“We knew we had to win and win by a certain amount,” said Morris.

Ideally, Berkshire were looking to field first, bowl out their visitors and then reach their target in quick time. But it never went to plan.

“Losing the toss and having to bat first made things very difficult,” added Morris. He played tribute to Kidmore End for getting the game played in the first place as parts of the ground had been under water on Saturday.

“When we arrived at the ground we thought we might not even play as the wicket was still wet,” said Morris.

“So all credit to Kidmore End for getting it playable.”

But the start was still put back to 1.30pm, while the overs were reduced from 50 overs to 41 for each side.

Conditions certainly helped the bowlers early on and Berkshire were soon in deep trouble.

David Barnes was dismissed for one, Waqas Hussain for 11 and Michael Roberts was bowled for a duck.

James Morris (1), Euan Brock and Shelvin Gumbs, both without troubling the scorers, quickly followed to leave Berkshire on 29-6.

Richard Morris and Stewart Davison offered some resistance, but Morris was out for 25 with the total on 45. Robbie Williams made five, before becoming Berkshire’s fourth lbw victim of the innings.

Davison and Henley team-mate Tom Nugent added 33 for the ninth wicket before the latter was bowled for 12.

Last-man Rishi Sharath was out for one to leave Davison unbeaten on 25 when the innings ended at 92 in the 37th over. Wicketkeeper Davison occupied the crease for 92 minutes, during which he faced 84 balls.

For Herefordshire, David Ball took 4-25, Dan Conway 3-20 and Bradley Wadlan 2-17.

Berkshire bowlers made a sensational start with pacemen Williams and Nugent capturing a wicket each in their first over to leave the visitors 1-2.

But it was only a brief moment of joy, as Wadlan, with 40, and Charlie Walker, 52, guided Herefordshire home in the 20th over with an unbroken stand of 97.

Berkshire Women’s two County Championship Division 1 games at Wokingham CC were both rained off without a ball bowled. They were scheduled to play Sussex on Sunday and Surrey on Monday.

Two years ago, all four home fixtures were cancelled due to bad weather. Their next game is away to Essex on June 15.